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For over a decade, as Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut Woman of the Hour explains, serial killer Rodney Alcala had been reported to law enforcement by survivors and other citizens without consequence. If you don’t know him by his name, you have certainly heard him referred to as the Dating Game Killer after appearing on national television to find his next potential victim. On a year-long murder spree, he brutalized women from coast to coast, ultimately being linked to eight murders but the number is estimated to be closer to 130.
How Alcala got away with his crimes for so long is partly due to police incompetence, as is seen in most true crime recountings. But what ultimately shapes Woman of the Hour and what led to the continuation of Alcala’s crimes is the silencing of women’s voices, for it was mostly women who reported the killer to law enforcement. The misogyny on display in the film’s 1970s Hollywood setting contributed, and still contributes, greatly to these crimes and illustrates what every woman at every hour has to do to survive.
It’s Hollywood in 1978, and aspiring actress Cheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick) is struggling to find work. Despite long hours locked in her apartment running lines, she screams in frustration in her car after every audition because all the sexist schmuck casting directors want are air-headed bombshells. She works very hard with little to show for it and she’s starting to wonder why she’s even in LA anymore. Then, she gets a call from her agent that she’s been booked for a guest spot on a TV show; however, it’s no walk-on for Laverne & Shirley or Happy Days, but on the game show The Dating Game. This kind of gig feels beneath her after all her hard work, but Sally Field was on the show she says, so maybe it will get her the exposure she needs. The exposure Cheryl gets, however, isn’t just to more casting directors or studio execs, but to bachelor number three: Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto).
Woman of the Hour Review
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Woman of the Hour, written by Ian McDonald, often goes back and forth in time to meet the women who would become Rodney’s victims, culminating in his appearance on The Dating Game. There’s a woman abandoned by her boyfriend, a teenage runaway, a stewardess new to New York City, and a woman who was simply trying to enjoy time at the beach. These nameless victims were all lured by Rodney’s camera and his compliments. The often kind and reassuring man is an interesting figure, as most serial killers are. Many love true crime because they want to learn what makes a killer tick.
We don’t get that here, and what we learn about him sows doubt of its truthfulness. The charm that tricked both police and his victims is terrifying to see at work, Zovatto delivering a performance with emotional moments of conflict and intrigue that makes Alcala illusive. The scenes where displeasure crosses Zovatto’s face make Alcala look like a different person than when he’s perpetuating kindness, creating pin-dropping tension. While the film really isn’t about him, he’s still a big part of this story and perhaps the main draw for many; however, his victims could have had a bigger spotlight, or at least given names, like the titular woman of the hour. The film often feels to care more about Alcala than those whose lives he stole.
Woman of the Hour is not only about the Dating Game Killer and the contestant who chose him but also the behind-the-scenes of 1970s network television. It proves to be far more than just faithful set recreation and production: It’s about how women were (and still are) treated in the business. Cheryl is asked by host Ed Burke (played by Tony Hale and based on real Dating Game host, Jim Lange) to just sit pretty and dumb herself down for the bachelors that the makeup ladies call “idiots”. Cheryl has to please men to make them look better than her. As the character, Kendrick’s performance portrays plenty of discomfort over the situation, with the film’s score elevating this.
She’s suddenly overcome by nervousness as she is put into a situation that she dreamed about for years but doesn’t appear like what she imagined it would be. It’s only until she rebels that she begins to enjoy herself, asking her own questions of the bachelors to have them reveal themselves as they truly are. However, her display of personality and humor is underlined by her desire to determine which man she feels she will be able to trust more.
Women put themselves in a vulnerable position every time they go on a date with a guy. There’s more fear in that situation than the opposite sex realizes, and when Cheryl ultimately picks the wrong guy, it’s her gut feeling that keeps her alive. However, the real Cheryl shouldn’t have had to solely rely on that. She shouldn’t have been put in that position in the first place. Through powerful supporting turns by Nicolette Robinson as Laura, the friend of one of Rodney’s victims, the film captures the lengths that women go to protect other women and how it’s often the only support system women have. Through Laura, the anger and frustration of being dismissed is captured. This creates a stressful viewing experience as you know how unprotected Cheryl is in not only Rodney’s presence but just simply being a woman out in the world. What women fear, what they do and don’t do to try to protect themselves, sadly, really hasn’t changed very much since the 1970s. And that’s the true horror of this picture.
Grade: B+
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Woman Of The Hour
The stranger-than-fiction story of an aspiring actor in 1970s Los Angeles and a serial killer in the midst of a years-long murder spree, whose lives intersect when they’re cast on an episode of The Dating Game.
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